


New Beginnings

by Talvi (inn_havi)



Series: Stories of Thedas [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28488024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inn_havi/pseuds/Talvi
Summary: Stories of Thedas writing challenge day 1/31
Series: Stories of Thedas [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086773
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	New Beginnings

It was dark and humid, the candles lit along the walls giving little way of light to traverse the stone floors. Stone. Juliette had only ever felt the creaking of wood or grass and dirt beneath her feet. And every sound here echoed, as though she couldn’t let out a sigh without whoever was in the building hearing it. But she wasn’t focused on that. She had barely been dropped off at this place called The Circle for five minutes and was being taken high up a tower by a robed woman in red and two armored templars tailing behind them. Anyone they passed on the lower floors looked at the child with wondering eyes, and the higher they went the more pitiful the looks turned.

“Come in here, child.” The woman’s voice was warm, greeting her to enter a room at the top of the tower where a man sat at a desk in the center of a room with candles placed everywhere, some floating and some seated on tables and shelves. “Senior Enchanter?” The woman stepped inside with the little redheaded girl who quivered at her surroundings. The Templars stepped inside to either side of the door once it was shut to the hallway. “We have a new apprentice.”

The man, middle-aged and sporting grey streaks in his dark hair, looked up from his work on his desk. Juliette could see how his robes were much nicer than the woman’s, or of those they had passed on the way upstairs to the office. She didn’t feel scared of him, but she was confused. Despite his kind expression towards her and the gentleness in his voice as he replied with “is that so?”, she wanted to tear up and hang her head low. Of course her mother would simply scold her and tell her how she needed to act properly like a young woman, not a small child. So despite her meek appearance, she kept her eyes on the man and tried to control her breathing to keep tears from swelling. “Has she had a chance to sit down?” The man asked, his gaze shifting to the woman as he moved to bring a chair over to his desk, clearing books off of it. “She looks terrified.” He turned his attention back to the child, gesturing to the chair. “Come, have a seat.”

Juliette glanced up at the woman, and then the two Templars before quietly moving over to the chair, getting in and sitting stiffly on the edge. The Senior Enchanter could get a better look at her now. There were features he recognized in her face, despite the girl being so young. He looked over her fine clothes, the dark twill skirt marked with dirt and her knitted, woolen jacket sleeves containing signs of having been briefly burned. Her hair had obviously been neatly braided back to show her freckled cheeks and nose, but had become loose during the journey. The wool coat she had worn on the way over was now removed and was sitting over her lap, dangling past her feet but not quite making it to the floor.

“May I see your hands, child?” The Senior Enchanter asked, holding his own out in a gentle manner. He waited as she apprehensively held them out for him to see, the man being as soft as possible in looking over her hands and the edges of her sleeves. “How did this happen?”

She was quiet for a moment, as though thinking of something. “Eldur…” Her cheeks flushed when the man instinctively put his ear forward, obviously not understanding what she had just said.

“Senior Enchanter.” The woman spoke from the front of the room, finally taking a few steps closer to the two. “She was brought by Bann Trevelyan.”

The man’s eyes grew rather solemn, keeping his gaze on Juliette in front of him. “I see. Do you speak Common Tongue, young one?” A nod in response. “Just forgot the word?” Another nod. “You’re very quiet, aren’t you?”

“Mother… Doesn’t like it when I’m loud.” The girl replied, falling quiet for a second before muttering a quick “ser” at the end. She didn’t want to be rude.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with not having much to say,” the man smiled. “Now, I do need to ask you to try something. Is that okay?” A very apprehensive nod. “I just need you to show me what happened to have Bann Trevelyan bring you here.” Pure silence. “Please?” He helped the girl out of the chair, handing her hood to the woman who had escorted Juliette up to him. “Can you do it on demand, you think?”

“I don’t know, ser…” She murmured, no longer shaking as she adjusted to the Senior Enchanter with her. She didn’t know how she even did what she had done. When she reached out to catch her brother and he got burned… There was something she didn’t need to think about, as if it was second nature. Something needed an outlet and she was able to just let it go. Could she even recreate that? She was so lost in thought that she didn’t process the Senior Enchanter moving a few paces in front of her towards the side of the office. “Ser-” she was cut off in her questioning by something being tossed out of nowhere at her, the girl letting out a yell of surprise as she put her hands up in front of her face, warmth briefly touching her skin before fading away. She began to tremble, slowly putting her hands down to find water on the ground in between them. What just happened?

“Alright. We’ll need to get a phylactery started. And to fit you into some robes…” He stepped forward to the girl before moving to his desk, searching for a specific piece of parchment. “Lea, we’re going to just have her first name sewn into her robe, not her initials since she doesn’t have any.

“Ser…” The girl was cut off by another order from the man who read over the parchment.

“Let’s get Atisumus as her mentor since he just completed his harrowing last week.” He looked up at the woman who nodded and walked out the door with one of the Templars following her, then looked at Juliette who looked back at the door shutting and leaving three in the room. “What’s going to happen, young one, is we’re going to take some blood for your safety, get you into your robes, and then you’re going to meet your mentor. He’s a very nice young man and will help you get settled nicely. Then we’ll put you into a group with other apprentices your age so that you can make some friends.” He smiled, putting down the parchment and giving her his full attention. “Does that sound okay to you?”

A moment of silence for her to process his words led to a confused facial expression. “When will my father come for me?” She saw the man’s kind expression drop, as though he was sad for what he was going to say next.

“You don’t have a father anymore, young one. You no longer have a house.” He could see the girl forget to breathe for a second. She had to have been too young to understand, too innocent to know what cruelty the world was bringing onto her.

“Ser, I’m Juliette of House Treve-”

“No, child. This is your home now. This is where you live from now on. You are simply Juliette now.”


End file.
